Mar del Plata 2012 : A cooling down
10/16/2012 – The fifth round at the 7th Continental marked a cooling down on all levels. On the one hand, the thermometer took a dive and everyone was greeted by heavy mists, and wet air. In the tournament, seventeen leaders were whittled down to only four at 4.5/5: Granda Zuniga, Iturrizaga, Bruzon Batista, and Valerga. Round five report with pictures and game commentary by GM Sergio Slipak.
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7th Continental Chess Tournament / Mar del Plata 2012Tourney type: Eleven-round swiss open Special: Event is considered a world championship qualifier thus all norms earned are worth double. |
Mar del Plata 2012 : A cooling down
Report and pictures by Albert Silver
A group picture of the arbiters who have done an outstanding job. Watching them, one
notices they are not content to just be quick and efficient, they handle the crowd of
children, noisy fans, and disgruntled losers with good cheer, patience
and understanding.
The fifth round at the 7th Continental marked a cooling down on all levels. On the one hand, the thermometer took a dive and everyone was greeted by heavy mists, and wet air. To call it humid would be too light a term since the minute one went outside, there was a sensation of wetness just one notch short of a drizzle. This added to the feeling of cold, but even so, as it was not outright raining, the locals and many visitors had no qualms on going out for a stroll.
Peruvian GM Julio Grand Zuniga has been a domineering force in South America for many years
Cuban GM Reynaldo Ortiz Suarez Isan
As to the tournament, going into the round, seventeen players had been on a similar hot streak, sharing a strong 3.5/4, but by the end of the day only four stood at 4.5/5, with a giant pack of nineteen at 4.0/5. Still, with eleven rounds in all, anything goes. Edging out the leaders on tiebreak is top South American player, the brilliant Peruvian GM Julio Grand Zuniga, followed by the 23-year-old Venezuelan GM Eduardo Iturrizaga, top-seed Cuban GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista, and local hero of the moment: Argentine GM Diego Valerga.
A scene that typifies chess players
FM Haroldo Cunha dos Santos
IM Christian Toth has a stretch
Annotated game by GM Sergio Slipak
[Event "VII Continental Americano"]
[Site "Mar del Plata, ARG"]
[Date "2012.10.14"]
[Round "4.10"]
[White "Toth, Christian Endre"]
[Black "Hernandez Guerrero, Gilberto"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E11"]
[WhiteElo "2357"]
[BlackElo "2531"]
[Annotator "Sergio Slipak"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
{In the fourth round, the Mexican GM Gilberto Hernandez, who has resided in
Argentina for a number of years, showed good form in his win over the
Brazilian IM Christian Toth.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. Bg2
Nc6 6. Nf3 Bxd2+ 7. Nbxd2 {Positionally, the natural way to capture would be
with the queen, to allow the knight to develop to c3, however this would run
into tactical issues.} (7. Qxd2 Ne4 $1 8. Qc2 Qb4+ $1 9. Nc3 (9. Nbd2 {would
be worse.} Nxd2 {and White loses a pawn.} 10. Qxd2 (10. Nxd2 Nxd4) 10... Qxc4)
9... Nxc3 10. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 11. bxc3 {Black has a comfortable endgame in view of
White's poor pawn structure.}) 7... O-O 8. O-O d6 9. e4 e5 10. d5 Nb8 {
Gilberto plays the classic plan for black in this line: right after exchanging
the dark-squared bishop, he places his pawns on those squares to give his
remaining bishop free rein.} 11. Ne1 a5 12. Nd3 Na6 13. Qc2 {White needs to be
careful, since if he is not active enough, he can quickly be inferior as a
result of his "bad" bishop being boxed in by the pawns. As a rule, the best
plan is to take all the space possible, since that is White's main trump.} ({
A typical maneuver is} 13. f4) 13... Bd7 14. b3 c6 $1 {If we agree that
Black's problem is his lack of space then his goal should be to fight to
recover it.} 15. dxc6 Bxc6 16. Rac1 h6 17. Rfe1 Rfc8 18. Nb1 {Aiming for c3,
from which it can effectively control the b5 and d5 squares.} b5 $1 {Gilberto
continues to grow on the queenside.} 19. Qd2 $6 ({Correct was} 19. cxb5 Bxb5
20. Nc3) 19... b4 $1 {Effectively highlighting the poor placement of the
knight on b1.} 20. a4 $2 {A mistake that loses material.} bxa3 21. Nxa3 {If we
look at the pawns on b3 and e4 we can easily see that both are tactical
weaknesses since both are attacked an equal number of times: e4 is attacked
twice and defended twice, while b3 is waiting to be attacked. If we can create
a further threat to both these points, White may find defending them
overwhelming.} Qb7 $1 {The game is now over.} 22. Rb1 Nxe4 23. Qe3 Ng5 {
Creating a decisive attack on the long diagonal.} 24. h4 Bxg2 25. hxg5 hxg5 26.
Nb5 Rd8 27. Kh2 g4 0-1
Once the games are over, the
players head to the analysis area
The prizes
Standings after five rounds
Rk |
Tit |
Name | FED |
Rtg |
Pts |
TB |
1 |
GM |
Granda Zuniga Julio E | PER |
2647 |
4.5 |
15.0 |
2 |
GM |
Iturrizaga Eduardo | VEN |
2639 |
4.5 |
14.5 |
3 |
GM |
Bruzon Batista Lazaro | CUB |
2717 |
4.5 |
14.0 |
4 |
GM |
Valerga Diego | ARG |
2485 |
4.5 |
14.0 |
5 |
GM |
Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag | BRA |
2503 |
4.0 |
15.0 |
6 |
IM |
Tristan Leonardo | ARG |
2442 |
4.0 |
14.5 |
7 |
GM |
Ortiz Suarez Isan Reynaldo | CUB |
2579 |
4.0 |
14.5 |
8 |
GM |
Bacallao Alonso Yusnel | CUB |
2580 |
4.0 |
14.0 |
9 |
FM |
Julia Ernesto | ARG |
2370 |
4.0 |
14.0 |
10 |
IM |
Hungaski Robert Andrew | USA |
2451 |
4.0 |
14.0 |
11 |
GM |
Leitao Rafael | BRA |
2617 |
4.0 |
13.5 |
12 |
GM |
Hernandez Guerrero Gilberto | MEX |
2531 |
4.0 |
13.0 |
13 |
FM |
Fabian Gaston | ARG |
2344 |
4.0 |
13.0 |
14 |
IM |
Roselli Mailhe Bernardo | URU |
2430 |
4.0 |
12.5 |
15 |
IM |
Diaz Hollemaert Nahuel | ARG |
2408 |
4.0 |
12.5 |
16 |
IM |
Krysa Leandro | ARG |
2381 |
4.0 |
12.5 |
17 |
GM |
Kaidanov Gregory S | USA |
2587 |
4.0 |
12.0 |
18 |
GM |
Felgaer Ruben | ARG |
2579 |
4.0 |
12.0 |
19 |
Martinez De Negri Gonzalo | ARG |
2123 |
4.0 |
12.0 |
|
20 |
GM |
Cori Jorge | PER |
2522 |
4.0 |
11.5 |
21 |
GM |
Slipak Sergio | ARG |
2447 |
4.0 |
11.5 |
22 |
IM |
Rosito Jorge | ARG |
2387 |
4.0 |
10.5 |
23 |
FM |
Fulgenzi Ernesto | ARG |
2344 |
4.0 |
9.0 |
24 |
GM |
Mareco Sandro | ARG |
2581 |
3.5 |
15.5 |
25 |
GM |
Ricardi Pablo | ARG |
2505 |
3.5 |
15.0 |
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